Small Changes
Michael Kiwanuka (Polydor, 2024)
In the end, the world will be saved by beauty. This was one of Dorothy Day’s favorite quotes from Dostoyevsky. And it’s a fitting description of the experience of listening to U.K. artist Michael Kiwanuka.
Kiwanuka is a gifted singer, musician, and songwriter who is not well-enough known on this side of the Atlantic. His three previous albums, all excellent, offered vulnerably beautiful music with a voice reminiscent of Otis Redding and Bill Withers and a soundscape suggesting Pink Floyd’s expansive sound channeled through American soul music and Jimi Hendrix psychedelic guitar rock. His well-crafted, introspective lyrics often explore how his soul navigates a world of joy and pain, restlessness and injustice.
On Small Changes, Kiwanuka, now a father, leans more into a musical and lyrical simplicity that approaches contemplation. The production is stripped down, the arrangements uncomplicated, the lyrics heartfelt and succinct. Tracks such as “Rebel Soul,” “One and Only,” “Follow Your Dreams,” and “Lowdown” are some of the highlights. Even though love is the theme of this album, he does not get bogged down in cliché. He explores the nuances of love through introspection and mellifluousness.
Kiwanuka is not a flashy performer. Yet, he can hold an entire audience of thousands with only his voice and a guitar. Luckily, he is not content to rest in this space. He often pushes the boundaries of musical genre to create something wholly his own.
As he intones on the title track: “Small changes / On your mind / We’ll follow from our soul / Miles till the end.” If the world will indeed be saved by beauty, Kiwanuka will keep flowing with the Spirit until it happens.
This article also appears in the April 2025 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 90, No. 4, page 38). Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
Header image: Wikimedia Commons/Jeroen Komen (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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